This Thursday, May 3rd, is Ray’s 94th birthday. Who is Ray Favata? His friend and colleague Jim Martin wrote: “Ray Favata had an interest in drawing since he was a child. His artistic talents led him to a position in the US Army’s art department during World War II. His formal career in animation began […]
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OFFICIAL TRAILER: Warner Bros. “Smallfoot”
April 24th, 2018 
Jerry Beck Smallfoot turns the Bigfoot legend upside down when a bright young Yeti finds something he thought didn’t exist—a human. The new movie from Warner Bros. stars Channing Tatum as the Yeti, Migo, and James Corden as the Smallfoot, Percy. Also starring are Zendaya, Common, LeBron James, Gina Rodriguez, and Danny DeVito. It’s set to debut […]
Del Toro Signs Exclusive Deal with Dreamworks
April 19th, 2018 Jerry Beck Acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has signed a multi-year exclusive deal with DreamWorks Animation to write, produce, and direct animated family films for the studio, it was announced today by Chris deFaria, President of DreamWorks Animation Film Group. As part of the arrangement, del Toro has taken up offices at the Glendale campus. A longtime […]
Details of ‘Disney Channel GO!’ Fan Fest
April 19th, 2018 Jerry Beck Disney Channel is rolling out a fan fest, a mini-D23, both on-air and in person this summer. The centerpiece of the off-channel events is the Disney Channel GO! Fan Fest, a special day for fans to meet dozens of Disney Channel stars at the Disneyland Resort, Saturday, May 12th. The festivities begin at 11:15 a.m. […]
USC’s Teresa Cheng installed as First chairholder of Hench Endowed Division Chair
April 19th, 2018 Jerry Beck Teresa Cheng, the recently appointed Chair of the John C. Hench Division of Animation & Digital Arts (Hench-DADA) at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, will be installed as the first chairholder of the John C. Hench Endowed Division Chair at a dedication scheduled for Wednesday, April 25, 2018, it was announced by Dean Elizabeth […]
DreamWorks Unveils It’s Upcoming Line-up For Annecy 2018
April 17th, 2018 Jerry Beck DreamWorks Animation unveiled its programming lineup for this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the animation industry’s most prestigious film festival. Attendees to the 42nd Annecy International Animation Film Festival will be given a sneak-peek into the making of the studio’s 2019 release, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the highly-anticipated culmination of […]
Hosada’s “Mirai” Screening at Cannes; Picked up by Gkids for US
April 17th, 2018 Jerry Beck GKIDS, the acclaimed producer and distributor of animation for adult and family audiences, announced that the animated feature Mirai from Japan’s Studio Chizu will screen at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight section. The film is written and helmed by Mamoru Hosoda, the celebrated director behind The Boy and the Beast, Wolf Children, […]
ASIFA’s Animation Educators Forum announces 2018-19 Student Scholarship Program
April 16th, 2018 Jerry Beck ASIFA-Hollywood and the Animation Educators Forum (AEF) are proud to announce the 2018-19 Student Scholarship Program. Applications are currently being accepted for academic year 2018-2019 and are available now online here through May 7th. Scholarship recipients will be announced in July. The AEF Scholarships are merit-based awards designed to support college students in continuing their […]
NEW TRAILER: Pixar’s “The Incredibles 2”
April 13th, 2018 Jerry Beck In Incredibles 2, Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is called on to lead a campaign to bring Supers back, while Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) navigates the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell), Dash (voice of Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack—whose super powers are about to be […]
ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Educators Forum Announces 2018 Faculty Grant Recipients
April 12th, 2018 Jerry Beck The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Educators Forum (AEF) has awarded its annual Faculty Grants to Tom Bancroft (Azusa Pacific University), Soyeon Kim (California State University, Long Beach), Kaho Albert Yu (City University of Hong Kong, School of Creative Media), and Zachary Zezima (California University, Los Angeles). The AEF Faculty Grant program is designed […]
Dreamworks/Amazon Trailer: “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle”
April 12th, 2018 Jerry Beck DreamWorks Animation Television is creating two original kids series for Amazon Prime Video, beginning with the all-new The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle expected to premiere May 11, 2018 in the US, UK, Germany, India, and Japan. A second series inspired by the blockbuster franchise, Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, will have a […]
Chuck McCann (1934-2018)
April 8th, 2018 Jerry Beck Voice actor, puppeteer, and comedic actor Chuck McCann, has passed. He died Sunday afternoon at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center. He was 83. If you grew up in New York or the tri-state area, McCann was an ever-present figure on channel 11 (WPIX), after school, becoming a second father to many of us with his skits and […]
Fred Crippen (1928-2018)
March 27th, 2018 Jerry Beck We are very sad to report (via USC’s Tom Sito) of the passing of animator Fred Crippen at age 90. Fred created the legendary TV cartoon series Roger Ramjet, and the very funny “Shorty and Cheap Chicken” commercials for National Lumber. He animated spots for Sesame Street, shorts for UPA and contributed to many classic […]
GLAS 2018 Award Winners; Festival Announces Animation Grant
March 26th, 2018 Jerry Beck The GLAS Animation Festival 2018 in Berkeley has come to a close and they have unveiled news of a new GLAS Animation Grant, a new program to support independent animators making short films in the United States. This first year, GLAS will be awarding two grants of $2,500 each to two animation filmmakers. Applications and […]
Disney XD To Air Cal Arts/Gobelins Student Film “Nightmare in the Morning”
March 23rd, 2018 Jerry Beck Disney XD will premiere Yonatan Tal’s student short film, Nightmare in the Morning on Saturday, March 24th at 9:00pm ET/PT, marking the first time the channel has run a short film created by a student. Tal made the film during his third year in the Character Animation program at CalArts, and completed it while on […]
